Regents approve test-based teacher evals

A measure backed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to greatly expand use of student test scores in evaluating teacher performance won approval Monday from a divided state Board of Regents, prompting union officials to raise the possibility of a lawsuit.

But three board members including Roger Tilles of Great Neck voted "no" -- an unusual breakaway for a panel that prefers consensus. Fourteen members backed the plan.

Under the revised package approved Monday, up to 40 percent of a teacher's rating could be based on students' improvement on state tests of English and math. The exact weight given test scores would be left to local school districts. Teacher evaluations will include results of tests administered in spring 2012.

The remaining 60 percent of ratings would be determined by other criteria, such as principals' evaluations of teachers' classroom work. A preliminary plan given tentative approval last month provided that only 20 percent of ratings would rest on test results.

Cuomo successfully argued that wasn't enough. "Our goal should be to have the best system of evaluation in the nation, yet our proposed system falls short of other states, such as Colorado and Tennessee," the governor said in a letter to Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch.

Tisch and most Regents agreed. But opponents contended the state's current tests and other data might not be sophisticated or accurate enough to fairly assess teachers' success with students.

Under the new system, each teacher is supposed to be compared to others working under similar circumstances -- for example, among students with similar poverty rates.

In an email to fellow board members, Tilles said that applying such ratings to other professions "would mean that dentists would be evaluated not on their skills but only on how many cavities a dentist's patients get in a year or with a doctor on how many times his patients get sick in a year."

Meanwhile, the head of the state's influential teacher union, New York State United Teachers, said the decision to expand use of test scores violated the spirit of an agreement forged a year ago between his union and state government leaders. Under that agreement, 20 percent of teacher ratings were to be based on state test scores and 20 percent on assessments chosen by local districts.

The agreement was key to New York State's winning nearly $700 million in federal "Race to the Top" grants.

Union president Richard Iannuzzi, a former Central Islip teacher, said his organization would immediately stop cooperating with state school officials in putting an evaluation system into place. He added that his union was weighing a lawsuit as well. Local branches of the state union have considerable leverage, because the law requires that they be allowed to negotiate with districts over how evaluations are conducted and appealed.